Tough Sporting Stretch For Me

This may be a pretty rough March and April for me. Typically I'm all pysched about the Cubs season getting ready to kick off and hoping Purdue can over-achieve and do well in the NCAA Tourney. However, this year looks to be very, very different. After the last few Cubs seasons I'm trying to temper my excitement to avoid the crash. Getting hyped up won't be a problem once games start showing up on TV. Purdue just took a gigantic hit when their top guy, Robbie Hummel, went down with an ACL tear. We went from being #3 in the nation to being more questions than answers.
Let's tackle the bad first. I didn't get to see the Purdue - Minnesota game where he tore said ACL, but I've seen the clip. And it wasn't pretty. You could pretty much tell that his season was down just by the amount of sideways flex in his knee. He really was the heart and soul of our team. He was the one guy we could pretty much always count on to make shots when we really needed it. Our offense was really based around getting the ball into his hands and seeing what happens. In the Michigan State game on Sunday, a loss which really hurt our BigTen Regular Season title hopes, it was clear the guys were still trying to do that. They just kept passing it around and hoping someone would get an open shot. But without Robbie out there to draw consistent coverage, no one was open. It was a painful scene. Now, we do have the talent to rebound and make a great March run. I don't see how we'll get as far as we would have with Robbie, but it doesn't help to think like that. We need the other juniors and seniors to step up their game, and we really need some of the kids to elevate and do their part. Even the freshmen have virtually a full season under their belts, so they can do it. We've got another huge game tomorrow night against IU (those dirty f'n SOBs), then Penn St on Saturday. After that is the BigTen Tourney. So we do have a decent chance to adjust to life without Robbie before the real tourney. I just hope it's enough time.
Now the Cubs. This is yet another year of big expectations. So even though we've haven't won it all in over a century (102 years), and haven't even been to the show in over 1/2 a century (55 years), we're picked by some outlets as a solid bet to do it this year. And that's all fine and good. It means we have the talent level and coaching to pull it off. But of course big expectations can also lead to big heartbreak. Anyone remember 2008 against the Dodgers? Or how about all the years we were supposed to be good and just shit the bed? Makes me almost long for the lean years. 1998 and 2003 were that much greater because we weren't supposed to do anything. So the huge rush at the end was incredible. This year we have a very similar roster to last year. We're just counting on guys to live up to their potential. Big Z needs to finally be the ace he can be. Sorianno needs to wake up and be the hitter he is instead of trying to be a lead-off guy. Aramis's shoulder needs to have healed up properly in winter. Derrick needs to have at least 1 more good year left. Soto needs to play like year 1 instead of year 2. Marmol needs to throw at least as many strikes as balls. And of course the usual new faces in the infield and outfield. I'm doing my best to focus on Purdue and the Blackhawks to avoid getting too wrapped up in the Cubs too early. With 6 months of season, I need to save up my energy.
Wait...spring training games start Thursday and WGN is showing 2 over the weekend. I got some research to do!
PEACE!!